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CHRISTIANITY iii. In Central Asia And Chinese Turkestan The main early centers of Syriac-speaking Christians were Edessa (modern Urfa in southeastern Turkey) and Arbela (in northern Iraq). By the end of the 3rd century the Syrian church was strongly established also in the western Persian empire, where it was sometimes…

CHRISTIANITY iv. Christian Literature in Middle Iranian Languages Middle Persian. When the Christian church in Persia made itself formally independent of the patriarchate of Antioch early in the 5th century, the reasons for this step seem to have been not so much doctrinal as political or nationalistic. Thus it is…

CHRISTIANITY v. Christ in Manicheism In Manicheism, as in earlier gnostic systems, the terms Christ (Gk. “the anointed”) and Jesus Christ were used in various ways, though less commonly than the name Jesus alone. The epithet Christ can be properly understood only in conjunction with the name Jesus, and the…

CHRISTIANITY vi. In Persian Literature References to Christianity can be found in Persian literature from the earliest period. Christian beliefs and institutions are frequently mentioned in various genres (lyric, epic, didactic, mystic), and many works contain allusions to legends of Christian saints, martyrs, and ascetics. Some of the references and…

CHRISTIANITY vii. Christian Influences in Persian Poetry Persian poetry contains a good number of allusions to Jesus Christ (ʿĪsā Masīḥ), Mary (Maryam), and Christians (naṣārā, tarsā) in general. But that does not mean that one can speak of Christian influences in the strict sense of the word, for most of…

CHRISTIANITY viii. Christian Missions in Persia Christianity was introduced in Persia in the Parthian period, and several bishoprics were established there (Latourette, II, pp. 263ff.). That the Persian church was itself active in proselytizing abroad at the end of the Sasanian period (224-651) and immediately after is clear from remains…

CHRISTIE, Captain CHARLES (d. 1812), of the Bombay Regiment, an Anglo-Indian officer under the command of Sir John Malcolm. In 1810, following Malcolm’s instructions, Christie and Lieutenant Henry Pottinger undertook an exploratory journey from Bombay to Baluchistan, Sīstān, and the previously unexplored territories north of Makrān, which were thought to…

CHROMITE, FeCr2O4, a dark-brown or black mineral from which chromium is refined. It may be found in conjunction with deposits of nickel, gold, and platinum. There is no available documentary evidence that chromite was extracted or exploited in ancient Persia; it was probably not used in metalworking because of its…

CHRONICLE OF ARBELA, a Syriac church history of Adiabene, written in the 6th century by Mĕšīḥā-Zĕḵā under the title Kĕtaḇā ḏ-ĕqlisyastīqī ḏă-Mĕšīḥā-Zĕḵā, chosen in conscious imitation of the Ekklēsiastikḕ historía by Eusebius of Caesarea. It takes the form of a liber pontificalis of the metropolis Arbela (modern Erbīl), northeast of…

CHRONICLE OF EDESSA, a short local history of Edessa (modern Urfa), written in Syriac by an anonymous author and covering chiefly the period from 201-540 c.e. The author of the chronicle, which is preserved in a single 7th-century manuscript, devoted particular attention to damage caused by flooding of the local…

CHRONOGRAMS, Pers. mādda(-ye) tārīḵ, dates incorporated into Persian texts in disguised form, espe­cially those in which the letters of the alphabet have numerical value. The indication of dates in this way can be found in Persian poetry from the very beginning. Only in the 9th/15th century did the construction of…

B.C.E. 100,000Cave deposits in the Zagros mountains of western Iran show evidence of human habitation dated to the Middle Paleolithic times. 8000Evidence of the development of settled village agricultural life based on the domestication of animals and plants in Zagros region and sites such as Sarāb, Gurān, and Ali Koš….

1834 Fatḥ-ʿAli Shah dies and is succeeded by Moḥammad Shah, son of ʿAbbās Mirzā. 1835 Murder of Abu’l-Qāsem Qāʾemmaqām by order of the shah and the appointment of Hājj Mirzā Āḡāsi as grand vizier. 1836 Rebellion of Āqā Khan against the central Qajar government. 1837 The siege of Herat over British objections (it ends…

1933 Threatened by the British, Reżā Shah, who had stood firm in demanding the abolishment of the D’Arcy oil concession, suddenly acquieces to British demands, much to the chagrin and disappointment of his Cabinet. A new agreement with the Anglo-Persian Oil Company is signed, with Persia abandoning many of its claims….